Sporting CP strike in stoppage time to stay top of the table

Two late goals earned Sporting Clube de Portugal a 2-1 turnaround against Gil Vicente FC, on the antepenultimate matchday of the Liga Portugal season. Maxi Araújo and Eduardo Quaresma were the scorers for a Sporting CP side who remain in the driving seat in the standings, heading into next weekend's huge derby against SL Benfica.

To face a Gil Vicente FC in 14th place and coming off two wins – and needing just one point to mathematically guarantee their survival, Rui Borges made just two changes to his starting XI. Jeremiah St. Juste came into the centre of the defensive trio, replacing the suspended Ousmane Diomande, and Hidemasa Morita started for the first time since March 15th, in place of Morten Hjulmand.

Before the game, there was a minute's silence in memory of José Carlos, a former captain of Sporting CP who was also one of the 'Heroes of 1964.'

The first chance came almost immediately, as Francisco Trincão shot went slightly wide. Sporting CP continually entered the Gil Vicente area successively, but without the required accuracy to open the scoring.

At the other end, the visitors made a transition, for the first time, after the quarter hour. Zeno Debast had to make a sliding tackle to prevent the danger in the area.

Sporting CP went behind in the 25th minute, as a penalty was called against St. Juste. The club's former academy player, Félix Correia, converted the spot kick to make it 0-1.

Despite their constant efforts to equalise, Sporting CP continued to lack the final ball to provide the breakthrough, and went into halftime trailing.

In the second period, Pedro Gonçalves opened up the chances with a strike still narrowly wide of the post. With the game becoming increasingly tense and with no changes on the scoreboard, after the hour mark, Rui Borges took a risk and made three substitutions at once, bringing on Hjulmand, Geovany Quenda and Conrad Harder for St. Juste, Morita and ‘Pote’.

Increasingly, Sporting CP were camped out in the opponent's half, and often in the Gil Vicente area, but neither the numerous crosses nor the many attempted combinations reached their intended recipient.

However, their persistence would bear fruit in the 81st minute, when they finally found an equaliser. A blocked shot by Harder fell to Maxi Araújo in the area, and the Uruguayan fired home as the packed stands at Alvalade erupted.

Sporting CP went all out, and first of all had Trincão denied a great goal when his shot hit the post.

The game moved into stoppage time, and finally the turnaround was compleded by Eduardo Quaresma. Following a corner, the ball ended up on the edge of the area, where he took a perfect shot that left goalkeeper Andrew Ventura rooted to the spot.

A hard fought 2-1 win made it 15 consecutive games unbeaten, heading into the most anticipated and decisive derby in living memory.

At the Estádio da Luz on Saturday (6pm), the game away to Benfica could see either side clinch the title. Sporting CP would win the league in the event of victory in the derby, whilst a draw would keep them in first place, despite the equal points – as a result of the 1-0 victory in the first encounter this season.

Sporting CP: Rui Silva [GK], Eduardo Quaresma, Jeremiah St. Juste (Morten Hjulmand, 63’), Gonçalo Inácio [C], Geny Catamo (Biel Teixeira, 83’), Zeno Debast, Hidemasa Morita (Geovany Quenda, 63’), Maxi Araújo, Francisco Trincão (Matheus Reis, 90+5’), Pedro Gonçalves (Conrad Harder, 63’) and Viktor Gyökeres.